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Character of Sippy Downs is Changing
3 June 2006
I arrived at work early one morning during the week to see a
group of people kneeling at the entry to the University ring
road.
It was a security guard and two people from Australia Zoo
comforting a dying kangaroo with a tiny joey in her pouch. The
kangaroo had been hit by a speeding white car from the Arts car
park that didn't even stop to report the incident.
Because of the expertise of the staff they were able to express
some of the mother's milk from the dying animal, extricate the joey
from her pouch, and get it quickly to an incubator. They had strong
hopes they could save its life.
This distressing incident involving excessive speed and a lack
of due care highlights the growing pressure on the University
campus as the urban fabric around us continues to develop, and as
we enter a period when it will occur even more quickly.
From everyone, visitors, staff and students, we need greater
concern paid to the avoidance of littering, less speeding, and
generally greater respect being paid to the maintenance of this
environmentally sensitive campus.
As we get down to the detailed master plan review, it is
becoming obvious that growth will erode many of the current open or
regrowth areas. We are doing our utmost to retain the character of
the campus but changes to the areas surrounding the University mean
that we have to address and complement those changes where
appropriate.
The clearest indication yet of what our surroundings will look
like is evidenced in the draft Maroochy Shire Council Town Plan
for Sippy Downs, released last week.
Consistent with the South East Queensland Regional Plan, Sippy
Downs is to be a sub-regional activity centre, a technology and
education precinct, and hopefully the location for a major
hospital. These elements complement each other and generate the
jobs and companies that can derive from collocation and
cooperation.
The Draft Town Plan wisely proposes relaxing height restrictions
of four storeys, and specifies a level of detail on buildings,
activities, streetscapes, traffic that we have not previously
seen.
The University will be responding to the draft plan as there are
some matters of detail that need to be addressed but the overall
tenor of the document is promising. It is the culmination of over
ten years of talking about Sippy Downs.
On the one hand it is an exciting urban environment that is
developing, but it also signals the loss of that rural character of
the area which has, for example, sustained the kangaroos. With
those that remain, we need to be more careful than ever before.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast